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Our Topic:  Gun Control and School Safety

The problem that we are studying is school safety in the state of New Jersey. More specifically, we are trying to solve one of the biggest dangers affecting schools. This danger is school shootings. In order to decrease the amount of school shootings, the federal government needs to raise the firearm purchasing age to 21. This problem in our state is very serious. People are very bothered by this to a great extent because there are protests all over that prove citizens want to have more gun reform. Many schools in New Jersey have conducted walkouts to mourn the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Some schools that participated included West Orange High School, Middletown South High School, Florence M. Gaudineer Middle School in Springfield, NJ, and Raritan High School in Hazlet, New Jersey. 

 

This problem is very widespread and a lot of people have opinions about it. This is evident because our state keeps on making gun laws tougher. Even if important values are threatened, such as the 2nd (the right to bear arms)  and 14th (equal protection)  amendments, the nation’s schools will be safer. The problem of raising the firearm purchasing age should be handled by the government because schools are in danger of shooters, and many shooters are students under the age of 21 years old. All people in the community should help take responsibility for solving the problem and making change by helping convince our politicians that this policy needs to get passed. In the state of New Jersey, this is already a policy for the most dangerous firearms and assault rifles, but other states are still refusing it. Therfore, existing policies are not adequate to solve the problem, because still many schools across the nation are in danger of school shooters. The duty of our government is to protect and defend the citizens from any dangers. However, it is hard to say that they’re doing a good job, considering all of the mass shootings in our schools.

New Jersey Schools

The schools in New Jersey are still in danger of school shooters because they are vulnerable to firearms purchased in other states. Shooters can even get AR-15s that are banned in New Jersey just across the border in Pennsylvania from gun shows. There are many disagreements in the U.S. about this problem and the way it’s being handled, such as states disagreeing if this should be a law or not, and lawsuits to the government made by the NRA. The federal government is responsible for dealing with this problem because they pass and enforce legislation for the whole nation and because all states have to agree on raising the minimum gun purchasing age to 21 or else, it wouldn’t have any effect. According to abcnews.go.com, “President Trump again called for raising the minimum legal age to purchase all guns to age 21 during a meeting with lawmakers on guns and school safety Wednesday, while suggesting that those who are staying silent on the topic are "afraid" to come up against the NRA.”

 

Many other states don’t have as many gun control laws as New Jersey. There already are state laws dealing with this issue. For example, in New Jersey, certain types of guns and modifications are banned that are permitted in other states such as Texas. This includes automatics and sawed-off shotguns (with barrels shorter than 18 inches).  In fact the Brady Campaign and the Giffords Law Center often rank New Jersey in the top three when it comes to Gun Control laws.  Unfortunately, Pennsylvania does not fare as well in the rankings.  In fact in the state of Pennsylvania :

Source: http://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/state-law/pennsylvania/ 

 

This puts citizens and students of New Jersey in danger, even if our state is stricter when it comes to guns. Gun purchasers can bring their weapons into this state, even though it is illegal. 

 

There are different opinions about how to handle the issue of gun violence in regards to school safety.  Some believe that schools need better security and others think that by giving teachers weapons, that schools can be safer. In the U.S., the death toll due to gun violence is higher than most countries with extreme or comparable financial instability. It’s even higher than the totals in war ravaged areas like sub-Saharan Africa. 

 

 This issue is very serious in our state. In New Jersey, at least seventeen people were charged for making violent threats involving guns since the Florida shooting.  Since February 14, when the Parkland shooting took place, there have been more than 38 threats in schools in the U.S. Nine weeks after the Parkland shooting, there were already seventeen school shootings in the U.S. 

 

The disagreements that exist about this problem include that anything that restricts purchasing a weapon is a violation of the Second Amendment because regulations that restrict who can purchase a weapon are possibly violations of the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms. Some groups with an interest in this issue are politicians such as New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy because he has the responsibility of protect NJ’s citizens, pro-gun associations such as NRA, and pro-gun control associations such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV). 

 

Federal and state governments, mainly the legislative branch since they write and revise laws, are responsible for fixing this problem because their job is to keep U.S. citizens safe. The government is banning certain guns in certain states, but further action hasn't yet taken place such as the regulation of guns moving across state lines. The federal and state governments are currently split on gun control. Some support it and others don't. Without cooperation among the lawmakers, the law has a very small chance of being passed. In 2012, in NJ, out of 2112 crime guns, 1687 guns were purchased in other states.  According to the ATF, a crime gun is a firearm used or suspected to have been used in a crime. Most of those guns came from neighboring states such as Georgia (152), Virginia (192), and Pennsylvania (278). In the whole year, only 425 guns came from New Jersey. This clearly shows that the law enforcement or the government in New Jersey needs to work harder to keep illegal guns out of the state whether it's purchased in the state or smuggled from another state.  

 

In a country that is averaging one school shooting a week in 2018, our lawmakers and interest groups have allowed “schools” and “shootings” to become commonplace news stories.  It is time that our lawmakers realize that Gun Control and School Safety are no longer separate arguments or separate issues.  We stand with our peers and demand that “Thoughts and Prayers” be replaced by “Policy and Change.”

This is a political cartoon by Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News of Buffalo, New York that is using satire to criticize the fact that even if politicians claim that they are going to add more gun reform, there are still shootings happening in schools all over the nation.

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